This Christmas, let's remember the true meaning of the season. It's not about buying gifts and spending a fortune on extravagant lights and decorations. That is the biggest lie of the Holidays, Glenn says. And he would know. Glenn tells the story of two Christmases: One when he could barely afford anything and one when he went all-out. To this day, he's still humbled by which one his children remember more fondly. The true joy of Christmas isn't found in stuff, he says. "It's from the heart and from Christ."
TranscriptBelow is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: I want to address what I think is the biggest lie of the holidays.
And this comes from something personal. I was just reading that commercial there for American Financing.
And I remember when I couldn't put anything on my credit card.
I -- because I only -- I learned from my parents. Only American Express. It forces you to pay it off every month so you can't get behind. So I've never carried another credit card.
And been spooked by credit cards my whole life, because my parents cut them up and threw them in the fireplace. Because you know they went broke.
And I didn't have any money.
And I was living in the same apartment building that Stu was living in. And you were, what?
Nineteen years old. Eighteen years old?
STU: Yeah. Something like that.
GLENN: He started as an intern.
And I, who was the host of the morning show, was living in the same apartment complex, okay?
Broke. Broke. I think he actually had more money. I was living off of food certificates. That the radio station would give away. Okay?
And I remember the first Christmas like that. And I couldn't afford anything. For my kids.
Anything. And it was devastating.
And the whole buildup, all I could think of is, you're such a worthless dad.
You're such a worthless.
What are you doing?
You can't afford the cheapest of the cheap.
And it bothered me. Deeply.
And, in fact, ten years later, when I had turned my life around, and I become successful, I went out and I bought everything I could think of for my kids.
It was the most hollow Christmas I've ever had. The Christmas that I was broke, I actually remember that and so do the kids. They remember that Christmas. None of my kids remember the one where it was the presents were plentiful.
And I just remember after all the presents were opened, how empty everything felt.
The biggest lie is that you have to buy something for Christmas.
The biggest lie, hang on. I've got an ad coming up in a second. The biggest lie is that you have to go to a store. Or go online.
That's a lie. And we've gotten so far away from it.
It plays on us.
Because now our kids expect that.
Because that's what they see.
That's what Christmas has become.
Our Founders would have been abhorred by what Christmas has turned into.
Christmas was so sacred, around the time of the founding.
That you wouldn't have gone, taken off work.
You wouldn't -- it was so sacred. You kept that quiet. Personal.
It was your personal connection with God.
And the birth of his son. And so everybody would go to church.
But it isn't like it is now.
That's an American thing.
One of the things that I think we've really gone on. Is that we've lost the true meaning of Christmas. And exchanged it for presents.
Please, whether you have the ability or don't have the ability, remember the true meaning of Christmas.
It's not in a package. Or a bag.
It's from the heart. And from Christ.